What's the word on the street about Kostas Papanikolaou?

_s_t_u_r_t_ · Post #1 » by **_s_t_u_r_t_** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 1:49 am

Just curious. Didn't even know who the guy was until a week ago. Does he have a permanent place on the roster and, maybe even, in the DEN rotation? I was made to wonder, given the news that DEN is getting ready to re-sign Arthur after all.

nayyyyyyyyo09 · Post #2 » by **nayyyyyyyyo09** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 3:46 am

I don't understand why we resign Arthur when we already have like 17 players on the roster and we need to cut down or we'll get a penalty tax

Logan18 · Post #3 » by **Logan18** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:37 am

http://youtu.be/RtjqHAs9Roc

Highlights from when he played in Europe.
He is still young at 24 years old, and only has one year of experience in the NBA. He played for Barcelona his last year in Europe, which says something since that is the best team in the world outside of the NBA (Mario Hezonja also played for them last year). 3 years ago he was named the Euroleague rising star, an award given to the best young player in Europe. Other recipients of this award have been Danilo Gallinari, Ricky Rubio, Nikola Mirotic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Rudy Fernandez, and Andrea Barngani.
He shot the ball poorly last year for the Rockets (.292 from 3), but always shot a higher percentage in Europe (his worst season in Europe was .333 from 3).

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Logan18 · Post #4 » by **Logan18** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 4:58 am

Also, Everything I've heard about him says he is a high character guy who plays with a lot of energy, and has a great work ethic. Definitely an upgrade over Lawson in all of those categories.

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_s_t_u_r_t_ · Post #5 » by **_s_t_u_r_t_** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 5:43 am

I dunno.

First, I believe Arthur's signing would mean 15 guaranteed contracts, so something's got to give.

Second, even if DEN wants to keep him, that $4.8m for this amount of production...

http://www.82games.com/1415/14HOU13.HTM

...is pretty difficult to justify.

But my question is simply whether there's any talk on other Nuggets boards about the next move(s)...?

Greek · Post #6 » by **Greek** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 10:21 am

His contract is not guaranteed. He can be very useful hustle player on SF/PF, very high character/IQ player, that can be 7-8 player on the rotation, even more, but i think that he will be traded again or cut.

gothehornets · Post #7 » by **gothehornets** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 12:14 pm

_s_t_u_r_t_ wrote:I dunno.

First, I believe Arthur's signing would mean 15 guaranteed contracts, so something's got to give.

Second, even if DEN wants to keep him, that $4.8m for this amount of production...

http://www.82games.com/1415/14HOU13.HTM

...is pretty difficult to justify.

But my question is simply whether there's any talk on other Nuggets boards about the next move(s)...?

but is a 4.8 mill player look like in the nbamnow and it seems like he has a bit of potential

Post #8 » by **The Rebel** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 1:54 pm

More than likely he will either be traded or cut by the start of training camp, the roster is just too crowded right now.

Logan18 · Post #9 » by **Logan18** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 5:46 pm

I think we'll keep him. It seems risky to keep only 2 small forwards, especially when one of them has a history of injuries.
Plus he was a rookie last year, and got playing time for a team that went to the conference finals. It would be silly to cut a second year player who showed potential in his rookie season.
Also, I think he could flourish in Denver, as he will be surrounded with players who are making (or already made) the transition from Europe to the United States. Being surrounded by guys like Gallinari, Jokic, nurkic, and lauvergne will help him develop into a better player than he would have been for the rockets, who had less Europeans.

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_s_t_u_r_t_ · Post #10 » by **_s_t_u_r_t_** » Wed Jul 22, 2015 9:17 pm

$4.8m is a pretty steep price to be paying someone who spent the better part of the season far down Kevin McHale's bench and/or was injured, and who projects to be playing mop-up minutes on the DEN depth chart for next season. Moreover, it's not just a matter of money, but a matter of creating a roster slot to fit him into. Again, though, I'm just interested to know if anything is being said by Nuggets beat writers or if there is otherwise any "word on the street" about the front office's intentions (...?).